Lost Re-Up: The End (FINALE!)
Immediately after the Lost finale last night, I posted my initial thoughts. Now it’s time to go over the episode in more detail. Before we get started, I’d like to state that THEY WEREN’T DEAD THE WHOLE SIX YEARS. The Island wasn’t some kind of limbo. Jack died last night and many others (Hurley, Ben, Kate, Sawyer, etc.) got to live out their lives and died later on; years later; off camera (or maybe not, more on that later). The flash-sideways was an afterlife waiting room they all created so they could meet up and have a final group hug before going onto their respective fates.
For the majority of season 6, I found the afterworld to be more interesting than the Jacob/MIB drama on the Island. I got a lot of flack for that from some friends, but even after the reveal that it is a pseudo-afterlife, I don’t feel cheated at all. I thought it was brilliant. It explained why we didn’t see certain characters like Richard in the flashes. It makes sense that Richard would want to spend his afterlife with Isabella and why Ben would be afraid to enter the church and meet his fate. Although, Ben could have just been waiting outside for the people he really loved – Alex and Roussea.
There were a lot of meaningless deadends on the Island this season. Like the Temple and how the names on the cave wall basically meant nothing, since anyone could step up to bat and volunteer for the protector gig. Too much time was spent on running from one end of the Island to the next. And if one more person on the Island said “Just trust me,” I would have gone blind with rage. But the flashes always kept me engaged.
Now, the ending. It turns out that the Island is simply that, but sitting on some kind of electromagnetic geyser that needs to be corked. I’m okay with that. It brought these characters together, and these characters were explicitly given the spotlight last night. Mythology was swept aside in the end, and you can’t help but admire the enormous balls of Carlton and Cuse for playing it out that way. There’s no point in creating a laundry list of unanswered questions – we all have our gripes over what was left a mystery. The show has always been about these characters, their interactions, their flaws, and their search for some kind of meaning. In the end, that meaning turned out to be each other. I posted it last night, but again I feel like this quote from Christian hits it on the head and also reads well as the show’s thesis:
“This is the place you all made together so you could find one another. The most important part of your life was the time you spent with these people. That’s why you’re all here. Nobody does it alone, Jack. You needed all of them, and they needed you … to let go.”
For all the see-saw love and hating I did on this show during its final season, Jack’s death had me shaking. I don’t think I’ve been that shook since they killed off Chewbacca in Vector Prime. Dying in the same spot this whole epic began was an obvious bookend, but a touching one nonetheless.
Jorge Garcia delivered so so hard last night. I was keeping it together emotionally up until he told Jack that “he couldn’t do it,” referring to him becoming the next protector. Yeah, that broke me.
Crook texted me during the show to see if I picked up on the lesbian vibe going down between Claire and Kate. Kate asks Claire to let her help raise Aaron, then when they held hands on the plane I was screaming at the TV, “Kiss!” it would have been the ballsiest play in TV history!
While the credits rolled, shots of plane debris on the beach were shown. So it’s possible to speculate that Frank wasn’t successful in flying everyone to safety. Was this one last gift of mysterious from Carlton and Cuse? In my head it’s just a final nod to season 1.
What about you guys? Are you not entertained?
- Patrick Cooper
May 24th, 2010 at 8:38 am
Entertained? Yes. Slightly perplexed? Yep. Enjoyable? You bet.
No matter how they ended it someone on the internet would have bitched about it. Just the way it is now and i doubt the show creators care one bit they’ve taken millions on a rollercoaster ride for a few years. Can’t say fairer than that.
May 24th, 2010 at 9:28 am
perfect finale in my eyes still.
favorite parts of the episode:
the badass meeting up on the hill and the exchange between jack and locke
the rain fight
Hurley speaking to Ben outside the church; ” you were a great number two” ” you were a great number one” ( pretty much flipped my shit hearing “were”)
and of course the series of edits of jack death.
a nice end to an amazing show.
May 24th, 2010 at 10:07 am
The wreck during the credits had blue (oceanic) markings. The other jet had red markings.
May 24th, 2010 at 10:49 am
I’d like to see some of the adventures Hurley and Ben had together as #1 and #2. Fan fiction?
May 24th, 2010 at 12:11 pm
Meh. Last night’s breaking bad was fucking amazing. Like one of those weird special episodes of a show. And then I watched the Lost finale AFTER it. Bad idea.
I guess I am the only hater here but I just thought this season was pretty much shit and an OK 2.5 hour finale does not really make up for that. And while I get that this episode was a character episode and not a mythology episode, it still obviously bums me out that there is so much shit that doesn’t make a lick of sense. But hell, it sure was head and shoulder above a lot of TV finales.
May 24th, 2010 at 4:49 pm
Have to say that this was the best ending that LOST could have given us after getting so large in their mythology. So i was thoroughly entertained. Love that Jack died exactly like Maximus Aurelius did at the end of GLADIATOR. I am disappointed that it took 6 season for Jack to strap his balls on and be the man we all wanted to see him become. I’m gonna miss this shit. sooo Caprica anyone?
May 24th, 2010 at 5:01 pm
Loved that the writers highlighted the importance of relationships vs the mythology. I took the scene with Christian and Jack as a direct statement about religion and how people use those myths/beliefs to justify their actions. Organized religion can be good when it brings people together, and horrible when used as proof/justification of superiority/power over other people. Given the current state of the world, many fucked up situations could be resolved by heading the lesson above. By focusing on the characters, the writers are telling us that knowing everything and having the answers to all questions isn’t what life is about.
I kinda thought jack would have more Jacob powers. I mean the dude could disappear and reappear, pop up in the candidates lives, give Richard eternal youth, etc. But he served his purpose, so maybe he had all the powers he needed.
Great series over all, satisfied with the experience of watching it. Still praying for the Miles & Sawyer Cop show spin off.
May 24th, 2010 at 5:03 pm
“One thing I do have faith in is ducktape”
May 24th, 2010 at 5:06 pm
I was really into this season but this episode mostly left me cold. I spent the entire time cracking jokes with my buddy about it. I still almost cried at the church scene though. I need to watch it again. I am unsure how I feel about it right now.
CROOK: I said the same thing. It seemed like that was a definite gift to the fans. I wonder how many drawings of an aged Ben and Hurley there are right now on the net?
May 24th, 2010 at 5:28 pm
Wait so who was Jack’s son? Where’d he come from?
May 24th, 2010 at 8:21 pm
it was a satisfactory end to the character beats but the mystery bits were left hanging. I knew that would happen going in. The Locke/Ben & Ben/Hurley moments were worth the price of admission for me. Overall though it seemed like they did as good a job as possible bandaging together the huge mythology mess they painted themselves into.
May 24th, 2010 at 9:30 pm
Did anyone catch the alternate endings on Jimmy Kimmel? Were they just gags?
May 24th, 2010 at 10:07 pm
Yes, awful gags. The Target gag commercials were way funnier.
May 24th, 2010 at 11:11 pm
I thought the Target keyboard commercial was great. I’ll save my time and not look up the Kimmel shit then.
May 25th, 2010 at 12:11 am
Why wasnt Eko and Ana Lucia in the church? Libby was in the tail section crew and she was there.
May 25th, 2010 at 4:20 am
I think it had something to do with them not going to where the other people in the church were going. I watched the Kimmel thing afterwards, and Harold Perrineau, who played Michael, was there and Kimmel suggested that since he “did some bad things,” which I assume he means taking out Libby, he wasn’t allowed in the church and asked where he was instead. Perrineau believes that he was left on the island “whispering” to other people. I’m only guessing that Eko and Ana Lucia is a “whisperer” on the island too, because they also did some messed up shit
May 25th, 2010 at 6:06 pm
i’ve re-watched seasons 1-5 at least 3 times total and now after seeing season 6 i’m done with lost. it was cool and i liked the ending a lot, but i’m done with it. i don’t think i’ll go out of my way to ever watch lost again. ….so breaking bad is good? i’ve never seen it, i’ll check it out
May 25th, 2010 at 10:10 pm
@camden I feel the same way about Lost right now. I’m so relieved the curtain closed and I’m not sure if I’ll ever revisit it.
Yes, watch Breaking Bad. Immediately.
May 31st, 2010 at 9:17 pm
[...] Lost is over. After a week, I still feel alright about the [...]